Joseph-Desire Job

Joseph is a striker in the premier football league club Middlesbrough. His mother had settled in Lyons, France after arriving from Cameroon, and Joseph was born in the city in 1977.

He says that he was determined to take on football as a career from the age of five. He was spotted by a talent scout and began training with the famous Lyons club from the age of ten. The other top Muslim footballer in the UK club Tottenham Hotspur, Omer ‘Freddy’ Kanoute is also from Lyons. Joseph recently wrote, “I’ve been a committed Muslim for many years now, and I feel that my faith really makes a difference to the way I behave, not only in my everyday life, but on the football pitch too.

When you’ve got faith, you don’t feel like you have any problems and it’s a nice feeling. You don’t feel the pressure that maybe other people do…That doesn’t mean I am not committed. I always run my legs off every match, and give everything I’ve got. But it helps to keep things in perspective. There are more important things than playing football, and my faith in God reminds me of that…The discipline I’ve learnt through religion means that I believe that I conduct myself better on the pitch”. Joseph’s personal web site states that his favourite book is the Qur’an, his favourite drink ‘orange Fanta’ and the celebrity he would most like to meet is Jamilia.